As one of the toughest men in the league, holding down the anchor point for a big, physical offensive line, Ryan Kalil has taken his fair share of hits. As a result one should expect that he has seen stars on more than one occasion as well. Following an interview during training camp last week, Kalil revealed that the stars he’s seeing these days are an NBA Power Forward and some movers and shakers from Hollywood. The hits he’s talking about now will hopefully come from the box office.
Along with Blake Griffin of the LA Clippers, Kalil has started a production company called Mortal Media. The first script at their disposal? The Rocketeer.
“ A lot of us have different hobbies. We play football for a living, but we try not to let it define who we are. Everybody has their passion they want to pursue in the offseason.” - Ryan Kalil
The Rocketeer was a 1991 cult classic starring Bill Campbell. Kalil is working with Brigham Taylor most recently of the Jungle Book series and the movie is set to pick up six years after the original. This time a black female WWII pilot will take the starring the role. Production is in the early stages but this project marks just another in a growing line of media excursions the veteran Center has embarked on. Kalil already executive produced ‘Son of Shaolin’ a Sony film to be released by Duane ‘The Rock’ Johnson’s production company. This last year Ryan wrote the introduction to Jason LaFour’s ‘Southern Bastards’ graphic novel and he spoke on the Rich Eisen show with fellow Panthers Jordan Gross and Geoff Hangartner about their book ‘The Rookie Handbook’ available on Amazon. Says Ryan: “Not a lot of guys like to read on my team or in my profession in general”. Perhaps we shouldn’t read too much into it but Kalil has his eyes focused on the future, long beyond what are most likely his last few years in the league.
According to Ryan everyone may not be reading in the Panthers camp but he says ‘I try to stay a little bit cultured.’ Not the most common route players take to television, Ryan isn’t the only Panther to test the waters in the production world. Based on his success at Nickelodeon, QB Cam Newton is reportedly starting his own production company as well. That’s interesting from the man Kalil says told him producing was fine ‘Just as long as you don’t forget your day job.’